Exam 2 - Suicide

Question 1

What is the medical definition of suicide?

Answer 1

Death caused by self-directed injurious behavior with an intention to die as a result of this behavior.

Question 2

What is the legal definition of suicide?

Answer 2

A suicidal act with a fatal outcome / self-injury with varying degrees of lethal intent.

Question 3

What is the cultural definition of suicide?

Answer 3

What is considered suicide is different in varying cultures.

Question 4

How are suicide rates calculated?

Answer 4

Number of deaths caused by suicide per 100,000 people in the general population.

Question 5

What demographics are suicide rates higher in?

Answer 5

Males
College Students
Young People

Question 6

What demographics are suicide rates lower in?

Answer 6

Females
Asians
Pacific Islanders
Black People

Question 7

Males are ____ times more likely to commit suicide than females.

Answer 7

Four

Question 8

White males account for more than __ in 10 of all suicides.

Answer 8

7

Question 9

What are the most common precipitant factors of suicide?

Answer 9

1. Relationship problems
2. Other recent crisis
3. Problematic substance abuse
4. Physical health problems
5. Job/financial problems
6. Criminal/legal problems
7. Loss of housing

Question 10

What are the warning signs of suicide?

Answer 10

1. Suicidal Threats
2. Withdrawal
3. Mood swings
4. Self-Destructive behavior
5. Experience of a life crisis or trauma

Question 11

What is the role of life circumstances in precipitating suicide?

Answer 11

Disruption in social relations sometimes leads to suicide.
1. The greater the incidence of disrupted social relations in a population, the higher the suicide rate of that population
2. Most suicide victims have experienced a set of disrupted social relations that are not found in the history of non-victims

• may include the loss of an important role (spouse, parent), reputation, job, etc.

Question 12

How does attempted suicide manifest as a cry for help?

Answer 12

• Timing and location are chosen in a way that attempts to maximize the chance of rescue
• May involve the use of less lethal means
• May be ambivalent about living or dying

Question 13

___ to ____ of successful suicide attempts involve people with one or more psychiatric symptoms.

Answer 13

90 to 95%

Question 14

There are particularly high rates of suicide among those with both __________ and ________________

Answer 14

depression
and
a history of alcohol/drug abuse

Question 15

___ to ____ of suicide victims have been previously hospitalized for mental illness at some point in their lifetime

Answer 15

40 to 50%

Question 16

What are the ten psychological commonalities of suicide?

Answer 16

Common Purpose
Common Goal
Common stimulus
Common stressor
Common emotion
Common cognitive state
Common perceptual state
Common action
Common interpersonal act
Common pattern

Question 17

What is the common purpose in suicide?

Answer 17

Seeking a solution

• To a problem that is ‘generating intense suffering’ within them

Question 18

What is the common goal in suicide?

Answer 18

Cessation of consciousness

• May be interpreted as the only way to end suffering

Question 19

What is the common stimulus in suicide?

Answer 19

Psychological pain

Question 20

What is the common stressor in suicide?

Answer 20

Frustrated psychological needs
- Feel pushed toward self-destruction by unmet needs

Question 21

What is the common emotion in suicide?

Answer 21

Hopelessness/Helplessness
- Feelings of despondence, sense that life is unsalvageable

Question 22

What is the common cognitive state in suicide?

Answer 22

Ambivalence
- Conflicted feelings of wishing to die and wishing to be rescued

Question 23

What is the common perceptual state in suicide?

Answer 23

Constriction
- A constricted ability to perceive options
- May only see two options: continue suffering or die

Question 24

What is the common action in suicide?

Answer 24

Escape

Question 25

What is the common interpersonal act in suicide?

Answer 25

Intention communication
- Will often emit clues of intention, signals of distress, indications or feelings of helplessness, or pleas for intervention

Question 26

What is the common pattern in suicide?

Answer 26

Consistent with life-long styles of coping
- THose previously inclined to black-and-white thinking escapism, control, capitulation, and other behaviors may be more inclined.

Question 27

What is the suicide process?

Answer 27

People who end their own lives must first work to resolve the social and moral prohibitions to suicide.

Begin process of suicide rationalization.

Question 28

What is the suicide rationalization process?

Answer 28

1. Sense of overwhelming and unsolvable problems.
2. Problems viewed as part of a never-ending and progressively worsening pattern of personal tragedies.
3. Death is viewed as the only escape from never-ending misery.
4. Lack of supportive others leads to increased social isolation.
5. Ways are sought to overcome individual’s sense that society condemns suicide as immoral.
6. Social isolation facilitates withdrawal of any social prohibitions against suicide.
7. Decision to commit suicide is rationalized as a way to end misery; does not denounce sanctity of life
8. Victims tend to view problems as not of their own making and only resolvable via self-inflicted death.
9. Victims will frequently ask god for forgiveness or request their survivors to pray for them to avoid condemnation.

Question 29

What is suicide contagion?

Answer 29

The increase in suicide and suicidal behaviors as a result of exposure to suicide/behaviors through one’s family, peer group, or media reporting.

Question 30

What are suicide clusters?

Answer 30

Occurrence of an increased number of suicides in a geographical location.

Question 31

What are mass suicide clusters?

Answer 31

Media phenomena where suicides occur during a restricted time period following, and linked to the broadcasting, or publishing of actual/fictional suicide

Question 32

What are point suicide clusters?

Answer 32

An unusually high number of suicides occurring in a small geographic area/institution over a relatively brief period of time.

Question 33

What is the Social Integration Theory in relation to suicide (Durkheim)?

Answer 33

The degree of integration of a society/social grouping explains its rate of suicide.

• 4 types of suicide.

Question 34

What are Durkheim’s four types of suicide?

Answer 34

• Altruistic
• Egoistic
• Anomic-Anomie
• Fatalistic

Question 35

What is Altruistic suicide?

Answer 35

Occurs in societies/collectivities that are characterized by excessively high levels of social integration
- Individual is lost to the collective interests. Person lives for the good of their society and will sacrifice everything for it.

Question 36

What is Egoistic suicide?

Answer 36

Occurs when a society is characterized by little social integration
- Members of the society are disconnected from one another
- Weak/Broken social ties
- Absence of involvement with others may result in life losing meaning, thus suicide.

Question 37

What is Anomic-Anomie suicide?

Answer 37

Occurs when there is rapid change in social integration.
- Individuals are thrown into disarray
- Integration in social life is suddenly disrupted and individuals are left w/out viable guides for their behavior.

Question 38

What is Fatalistic Suicide?

Answer 38

The condition of overregulation of individual behavior.
- Personal autonomy is rendered impossible
- Sense of powerlessness may ensue, thus suicide.

Question 39

What is the Theory of Status Integration and Role Conflict with regard to suicide?

Answer 39

Unusual configurations of statuses measure lack of status integration.

The absence of status integration leads to role conflict/expectation conflict between roles.

The more unusual the configuration of one’s status, the greater the role conflict and more likely suicide becomes.

Question 40

What is anomie theory in relation to suicide?

Answer 40

Rapid societal change can leade to goal blockage, leading to anomic suicide.

Question 41

What is Hirschi’s Social Bond Theory in relation to suicide?

Answer 41

Four Bonds to society:
Attachment
Commitment
Involvement
Belief

If these bonds are weak, external controls of behavior are absent. Leaves individuals without normative guides and support.